Pan-African forum on the Common Africa Position on post 2015 and Vision 2063

ACORD welcomes the African Union's adoption of a Common African Position (CAP) on the post-2015 agenda as an opportunity to ensure
African priorities are heard during the global discussions on a post-2015
development framework. ACORD appreciates the fact that the CAP is bold and
ambitious, calling for a complete end to extreme poverty in all its forms and
could galvanize the collective action needed to strike an ambitious global deal
post-2015.

On 9 April 2014,
ACORD hosted a pan-African forum in Dakar, Senegal discussing, "The Common Africa Position (CAP) on post
2015: What does it mean for Africa and the global post 2015 Framework?" The
forum brought together participants from ACORD board and staff, African CSO
partners including women and farmers, African government representatives,
parliamentarians, businesses and members of the international development community.

The objectives
of the forum, held in Dakar, were:

to share
firsthand the Common Africa Position (CAP), its road map, process, design
and content;

to understand
the importance of the CAP for the African continent and its contribution
to a global framework post 2015;

to understand the
process of developing goals, targets and indicators beyond the CAP
narrative;

to understand
the national process after the African Union Assembly's adoption of the
common Africa position and to determine entry points of influence by ACORD
and other African CSOs;

to understand
and determine areas of influence of the CAP beyond Ndjamena, ahead of The
UN General Assembly 2014; and

to understand the African Union agenda
2063, and its links with the CAP, gaps and opportunities, especially for
the African youth.

There was
also a presentation on the links between Agenda 2063 and the CAP that drew out
the gaps and opportunities, especially for the African youth who will be
directly affected by both the 50-year agenda 2063 and the global post2015 development framework until 2030. Agenda 2063 came about in the context of the
50th Anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity
(OAU) and the need for the continent to take stock of achievements, successes/failures
and map out a long-term vision as well as set goals and targets.

Opening speech was delivered on behalf of the Minister for Planning Mr.
Mor Ngom by his Director of Cabinet Mr. Souleymane Diallo.

According to Salina Sanou, Head of Policy and Advocacy, ACORD, there has been
hue and cry from African CSOs on the process of developing the current CAP. "African
CSOs lobbied to no avail for the inclusion of CSO representatives within the AU
Secretariat technical team to ensure the inclusion in the CAP of the
aspirations and needs of the constituencies they represent," she says. It is a
great need to increase the knowledge of these important processes that will
have an impact in years to come.